Congratulations to Dr. Igor Palacios

Dr. Igor Palacios’s distinguished career has been defined by visionary innovation, global collaboration, and a spirit of mentorship that continues to energize the structural heart community. 

Throughout his 45-year career, Dr. Palacios has been a pioneer in cardiac catheterization and the percutaneous treatment of structural and valvular heart disease. He introduced and refined several transformative procedures, including mitral balloon valvuloplasty, aortic balloon valvuloplasty, and the percutaneous pericardial window technique. He performed the first mitral balloon valvuloplasty in the United States and subsequently developed the double-balloon mitral valvuloplasty technique, utilizing a single atrial transseptal puncture. In collaboration with the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, he also codeveloped the percutaneous septal sinus shortening (PS3) system.

This award recognizes Dr. Palacios for his extraordinary scientific and procedural achievements, his innovative approaches to structural heart disease interventions, his compassionate leadership, and his global influence as a clinician, pioneer, and mentor to trainees across every continent. His teaching and collaboration have extended across Latin America and beyond, shaping the practice of structural heart interventions around the world.

Dr. Palacios has served as director of the Knight Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital for 28 years and is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In this role, he oversees clinical outcomes for the department and guides the selection of clinical trials for Mass General participation. He considers it one of his greatest professional honors to lead two fellowship programs, in interventional cardiology and in structural heart disease, where he mentors and trains early-career physicians.

Showcasing his pride in his Hispanic heritage, Dr. Palacios is a founding member of the Latin American Society for Interventional Cardiology, establishing interventional cardiology clinical trials throughout Latin America. He also served as president of the Consortium of Latin-American Investigators of New Interventions in Cardiology (CLINIC). 

Accolades for his achievements have come from both his native Venezuela and the United States. He was awarded the Gran Cordón del Liberador (Grand Rope of the Liberator) in 1999, the highest honor awarded by the Republic of Venezuela. In addition, he has been recognized by Woodward/White Inc. as one of the Best Doctors in the United States for more than a decade, received the Roman DeSanctis award for clinical excellence in 2019, and received the Clinician of the Year Award in 1997. 

A prolific researcher, Dr. Palacios has published more than 500 peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of the scientific or editorial boards of several journals such as Gaceta Médica de Caracas, Latin American Journal of Cardiology, and Journal of Invasive Cardiology. He is also an ad hoc reviewer for American Journal of Cardiology, Journal of American College of Cardiology, and New England Journal of Medicine, among others.

Dr. Palacios earned his MD at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1969 with magna cum laude honors. He completed his internship in internal medicine, residency in cardiology, and clinical and research fellowship at Hospital Universitario de Caracas, Universidad Central de Venezuela. He continued his training with a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and interventional cardiology.

Outside of medicine, Dr. Palacios enjoys maintaining an active lifestyle by playing tennis. He is incredibly proud of his family, including his wife, Candy, and his daughter, Lily.